The present study shows that the combination of a functional marker (sCysC) and a tubular damage marker (uNAG) at ICU admission had significantly better discriminative performance for AKI detection than either the individual biomarkers or the other two panels, and that combining this panel with a clinical model added significant value for AKI detection. Moreover, this panel also significantly contributed to the accuracy of the clinical model for ICU mortality prediction. This study was conducted in general adult ICUs with a heterogeneous cohort. Thus, our findings could have significant clinical implications for actual heterogeneous ICU patients at risk for AKI."